Potato-plow



R. EN ML RP E0 DM 1w H Patented Sept. 8, 1896i uml um l

I .Ef .j

LLLU

m im

A /nI/@wfofA UNITED Y STATES2 PATENT GFFICE.

Louis HINDERMEIER, oF Mnoos'rA,d MICHIGAN.

POTATO-PLAOW.

. SII-lEClIFICA'IIIION forming part of ll'ietters Patent No. 567,475,dated September 8, 1896.

` 'Applicationnaretmay 20,1896. salaire. 580,104. momen-.1a

To all 1071/017@ it may concern.'

Beit known that I, Louis HINDERMEIER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mecosta, in the county of Mecosta and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato-Flows and Ido hereby declare the'following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relatesto improvements in potato-plows in lwhich apositively-driven clearer and separator is hung over the plowshare torotate in a plane substantially at right angles to the line of draft ofthe implement, and which operates to break up the slice or furrow asitis raised by the share, so as to separate the potatoesfrom the soiland to deliver orthrow the potatoes to one side of the furrow onV top ofthe ground.

' The object of my invention is to provide a simple construction inwhich the rotary clearer and its driving devices may be readily adjustedto regulate the-depth of penetration of the plowshare withoutinterfering with the operation of the clearer.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in the novel combinationof devices and in the construction and arrangement of parts, which willbe hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated thepreferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, and in whichj Figure lis an elevationlooking at one side of the implement. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view on the plane indicated by thedotted line @c a; of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of theball-and-socket bearing for one end of the clearer-shaft. Fig. 5 is adetail view of the clearer.

Like letters of refe-rence denote corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings.

A designates the plow-beam,which is integral with or rigidlyunited tothe foot or stock B. On the foot B is secured the plowshare C, which, inthe embodiment shown in the drawings,`consists of a double share set inan inclined position and substantially at .right angles to the line ofdraft of the implement.

and the rear end of the beam is forked te\ provide the armsa, whichoverlap the upper end of the stock B, the parts being united solidly bythe through-bolts b. This foot or stock is provided at a suitabledistance above the upper edge of the plowshare with a recess c, over oneside of which is secured a capplate or boxing d, 1the whole'for'ming aspherical bearing E for the accommodation of the ball-shaped orspherical head'cl on the rear end of the clearer-shaft D. Thisconstruction forms a ball-and-sock'et joint or bearing between theplow-frame and the clearershaft, which permits the shaft to rotatefreely in the bearing, and also enables the shaft to be inclined orraised and lowered at will without disturbing the connection between therear end of the shaft D and the plow-l frame and without interferingwith the free rotation ofthe. shaft. Over the front and rear edges ofthe stock B and the rear end of the beam A are applied the face-plates ff', which. overlap the joint between the stock and beam and which are'fastened in place by suitable attaching means. I would have itunderstood, however, that the detailed construction of the beam andstock herein shown and described is not essential to my invention, andsuch construction may be modified and changed by a skilled mechanicWithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

The clearer-shaft D. runs longitudinally of the implement below the beamA, and at a suitable distance above the right-angled set double share C;The rear end of 'this shaft D' is joined to the plow-frame by theball-andsoekct bearing E, hereinbefore described, and the front part ofthis shaft is journaled in a bearing g at the lowerend of the'hanger G,

which is attached to the plow-beam near its ysembled and joinedtogether.

.hangers J J.

front part in avmanner to adjust the hanger vertically on the plow-beam.Such construction of the vertically-adjustable hanger G (shown in Fig.2) contemplates the provision of a longitudinal slot g in the hanger,through which slot passes a headed bolt g", that also passes through thebeam and serves to clamp the hanger to the beam; but the detailedconstruction of the hanger may be modified .as desired.

The rotary clearer D is in the form of a spider, and preferablycon-sists of a hub d, a series of radial arms d', and a series oftoothed heads d at the outer extremitiesof the radial arms, all of whichparts are preferably integral with each other, so that vthe clearer orspider constitutes a single casting, although the parts may be madeseparately to be as- The heads d are enlarged and formed with theplurality of teeth `or tines, and the head-s ,are arranged to beparallel to the axis of the hub d, so vas to ycause the toothed heads tosweep through thesoil or furrow raised by the share C. The spider-likeclearer has Vits hub lfitted kon and clamped to the shaft Dso as to lieabove the share and to sweep below .the arch a of the beam, and saidclearer is .arranged to rotate in a plane at right angles to the line ofdraft of the implement.

As a means for rotating the shaft and the clearer thereon l have devisedthe groundwheel H, the .gearing l I, and hangers to support the shaftfor the gearing and wheel in a manner to adjust the kground-wheel andthe gearing correspondingly to the adjustment of the shaft D, wherebythe ground-wheel may be adjusted to regulate the penetration of theshare and the depth of the furrow.

The ground-wheel H is arranged at one side of the plow-beam, and it isof such diameter as to lie between the line of the beam and the share C.This wheel l-I is fixed to a transverse shaft h, which is .at right`angles to the beam A and is journaled in bearings jj on the lower lendsof thc vertically-adjustable These hangers are slotted at theirupperends, .as at lr., for the passage of the clamping-bolts 7c', andsaid hangers .are

lspaced apart a vsuitable distance .to accommodate a bevelsgear Lbetween them, said bevel-.gearbeing fastenedto :the ground-wheel shaft7L, so that Athe ground-wheel and the gear rotate together. One of thehangers is adjustably clamped by its bolt 7c to the beam A, but theother hanger is adj ustably clamped to a bracket M, which is bent at itsmiddle so as to stand off to one side of the beam, and which is boltedat its `ends to the beam, as shown by Fig. 2.

.'llhe frontend of lthe shaft D is extended or carried through the fronthanger-bearing, .and to said end is secured a bevel gear-wheel L, whichmeshes with the bevelgear L, whereby the vtwo shafts D h are geared-directly together and the .shaft D' is adapted to be driven by theground-wheel I-I.

Although l have shown the device for sup porting Athe ground-wheel andits shaft as consisting of two independent hangers J J, which areattached, respectively, to the plowbeam and to an offstanding bracketthereon,

yet it is obvious that a single hanger may A be constructed to sust-ainthe ground-wheel shaft. j

The operation may be described as follows: When the implement is drawnacross a potato field, the ground-wheel H rides on the ground in advanceof the share U so as to rotate and to drive the shaft D positively, andthe share C penetrates the ground and raises the furrow or soil'into thepath of the clearer D. This clearer D is positively rototed in a planekat right vangles to .the line of draft ,of the implement, and as thetoothed heads d are forced 'through the soil 'the Aclearer breaks up`the furrow and throws the potatoes to ione side of the line of movementof the implement. The potatoesare partially cleaned from the :soil and.are delivered to one side of the implement, so that they can be easilygathered. The ground-wheel H may be raised or lowered for the purpose ofregulating the penetration of the share by the proper adjustment of thehangers J J, yand the hanger G for lthe front end of the shaft isadjusted corresponding 'to 'the adjustment of the ground-wheel, in orderthat the gears L L/ may properly mesh together. This adjustment for thefront end of the clearer-shaftdoes not disturbthe bearing for the rearend of said shaft, because the balland-socket bearing permits theshaft Dto be raised or lowered as desired.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim ,as new,.anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a potato-plow, the combination with a foot or stock, and a beam,of .a double yshare carried by the stock or foot, .a longitudinal shafthaving its rear end j ournaled in a compensating bearing on the foot orstock, a bearing for the front of the longitudinal shaft, a ground-wheelgeared to the front part of said shaft, .and a rotary clearer-reelarranged directly over the double rshare and attached to thelongitudinal shaft to rotate therewith, substantially as and for thepurposes described. Y

2. In a potato-plow, the combination with a beam, and a foot or stock,of a share carried by said foot or stock, a longitudinal shaft, aball-and-socket coupling for rotatably supporting the rear end of saidshaft on the foot or stock, a vertically-adjustable ground-wheel gearedto .the longitudinal shaft, and a rotary clearer-reel situated directlyover the share and .attached to the shaft to rotate therewith,substantially as Yand for the purposes described.

3. In a potatoplow, the combination with an arched beam anda foot orstock, of a fdouble share C, a Vhanger Gr adjustably attached to saidbeam, a longitudinal shaft hav- IOO IIO

ing its rear erid j ournaled, by the ball-andthe share C, substantiallyas and for the pursoeket bearing E, on the foot or stock and its` posesdescribed. f 1o front end supported by the hanger G, the In testimonywhereof I affix` my signature ostanding bracket M, the hangers J, J',the in presence of tWo Witnesses. ground-Wheel geared to the shaft andhaving' LOUIS HINDERMEIER. its axle journaled in said hangers J J andWitnesses:

4the rotary clearer D fastened to the shaft in A. R. STREETER,

position to rotate therewith immediately over PORTER vEIGHMY.

